Sunsets and promises
by Fatcat91
Summary: Years after Johnny's death Ponyboy is able to fulfill a promise.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own the outsiders. I just play with the characters and return them a little worse for wear.

 **Warnings:** Eh it's heavy on the feels.

 **Rating:** T (For Teen)

 **Author's Note:** I'm back. This time in the Outsiders universe. Time to make some characters cry. Anyway it's been awhile since I have written and and longer since I written in this fandom. Hopefully my writing style has improved from the last time I was here and that this one shot isn't too bad. I also hope the characters seem in character. Without further ado on to the story.

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Sunsets and Promises

Ponyboy Curtis knew he should be a little concerned when he didn't wake up in the nursing home room he had lived in for the last couple of years. But he wasn't. In fact he wasn't even concerned that he wasn't in hospital a room or even inside a building at all. No, instead he found himself standing in front a fountain long since demolished. It was the same fountain that shaped him into the man he was today.

He stared at the fountain studying the cracks and curves of the concrete, immersed in memories. This was where he grew up, where he became old, where he became wise. This was where Bob died, where he almost died. This was where he went to to remember the gang. He thought of the gang before they all died; Johnny, Dally, Soda, Steve, Two-bit, Darry. They were gone now, he was the last. It had been hard being the last survivor, but with the help of his wife, children and grandchildren, he kept going. And kept going he did, he had just celebrated his 89th birthday.

After Johnny and Dally and Bob died things calmed down for a while. The fighting between the social classes, slowed and eventually puttered out. There were more important things going on. Mainly Vietnam. It was on the news everyday. Stories, pictures, interviews, on T.V, in the newspapers and magazines. It permeated everything. Then Soda's draft number came up. Ponyboy remembered hugging the daylights out of his brother before he got on the bus to go fight in a war he didn't believe in on the opposite side of the world.

"Don't worry Pone, I'll be back before you know it," was the last time he got to say to his brother face to face. Soda came back in a box six months after he was deployed. Ponyboy had come home early from school. He had felt sick and decided to skip his last class. He figured he was coming down with a cold and figured he could try and head it off by sleeping. When he got home he saw an envelope sitting in the mailbox. It looked official so he grabbed it and started reading it as he walked towards the house. He barely made it to the first step before he collapsed, gasping for air. He could still remember the fine print of the letter reading, "We are sorry to inform you that Private Sodapop Curtis was killed in action . . ." He felt like he couldn't breathe. Darry found him sitting on the steps clutching the letter gasping for air. He didn't remember much of the funeral, or the weeks leading up to it, only that he bawled like a baby. Darry aged twenty years those couple of weeks.

Steve was the next to go. Only it took him years to die. When Soda got his draft notice, Steve signed on the next day. The night before they left for training, he pulled Ponyboy aside.

"I always followed him. From day one I followed him. I followed him to DX, I'm gonna follow him to war." In that moment Ponyboy stopped hating Steve. He was now the big brother he never knew he wanted but always had. Not that he would ever say that aloud, especially to Steve.

Steve left with soda in November and returned the following year with Soda gone and a needle jammed into his arm. He was never the same after the war; nightmares, hallucinations, and, as Ponyboy would later find out, a serious case of PTSD. He found that out much too late to do anything about it besides sit and watch his unofficially adopted brother self-destruct. Steve died ten years after Soda, on his best friends birthday. Ponyboy didn't find out until a month later that Steve died. He had picked up a newspaper trying to wrap a gift for his girlfriend when he glanced at the obituaries. In bold, black print was the name Steve Randle along with a birth and death date. It started with "Steve Randle died last night from a Heroine over dose at 2:30 in the morning on Sunday." The article then talked about his parents, and schooling and army rank. It ended with "Friends and Family are invited to attend his Funeral on Wednesday at the ST. Mary's Church."

Ponyboy stared at the article for a long while. He couldn't explain what he felt that day. He didn't feel sad, or surprised or really much anything at all. It was just a numb void that reminded him a lot of the time after Johnny's death. It wasn't until a couple of months later did he finally feel something for his brother's best friend's death, He was sitting at the dinner table with his girlfriend Cathy and Darry when he suddenly bursted out in to tears. He startled Cathy and scared Darry.

"Sweetie what's wrong?" came Cathy's soft voice, her hand grasping his.

"He's gone. He's gone and dead," Ponyboy tired to explain.

"Who's gone?" came Darry's firm voice. It was one he used often when he was stressed or tired or worried. He used it a lot after their parents died.

"Steve," Ponyboy answered. The sigh from Darry told Pony that he already knew. They didn't talk for the rest of the night.

After Steve was Two-bit. Years of hard drinking finally did him in. He did live longer than anyone thought he would. At fifty-nine his heart and liver finally gave up. His son, Johnny, and daughter, Marcia where at his side when he passed. He was also the one who changed the most out of the gang. After Soda's death he reconnected with Marcia. Though still young, they married. Everyone could see that they loved each other. At twenty-one Two-bit was graced with a son. Ponyboy could still remember hearing Two-bit announce his son to the world, a one Johnny Sodapop Mathews.

The day Johnny was born was also the day Two-bit got a job. He was a car salesman and it suited him. Though he never would admit it, Two-bit loved meeting people; whether it be meeting fellow greasers or random strangers, he loved to talk to people, to get to know them, make them laugh. He also quit drinking as much. When Ponyboy asked him he said, "Ponyboy all my life I ain't had no responsibility. If I had been smarter maybe Johnny wouldn't of killed that Soc. And maybe he would still be alive today."

"Don't be like that Two-bit, there ain't nothing you could have done," Ponyboy tried to argue.

"That ain't the point. The point is Johnny looks up to me. He watches everything I do and I don't want him to pick up my bad habits, savvy. I want to be someone he can rely on and be proud of. I don't want him to be like me or my old man. I want him to be better." And Ponyboy had nothing he could say against that.

A few years later Marcia Lucy Mathews showed up. It was a few of the best and worst days of Two-bits life. His wife Marcia died delivering her daughter. It was something no one saw coming. For the next week Two-bit was holed up in his home mourning the loss of his wife. His barely responded to his son and couldn't look at his daughter let alone hold her. That was when both Ponyboy and Darry stepped up and became honorary uncles to the Mathews kids. Darry had taken Two-bit aside where Ponyboy and the kids couldn't overhear and spoke to his friend. When they returned Two-bit scooped his baby girl in his arms and cried. It was the one the few times Ponyboy ever saw him cry.

Things calmed down again but Two-bit was never the same. He remarried twice but it never worked out. The second wife left amicably and they stayed good friends and even gave advice to Marcia as she grew. Ponyboy knew they still kept in touch. The last wife was a disaster. Everyone saw how miserable they were but didn't say anything about it. When she left she tried to take the whole state of Oklahoma with her. Luckily Two-bit was smart enough to have pre-nuptials and she didn't get much. Looking back Ponyboy figured that Two-bit was lonely and missed his first and only love. All the others where just trying to recreate that love. He never did marry again.

Then Darry died. He was the oldest at ninety. His was also the one that hit Ponyboy the least hardest. Maybe because everyone else was gone, or because he, being eighty-four, too was also old and dying now seemed like going home. Whatever the reason, Darry's death didn't paralyzed him like Johnny's and Dally's deaths had, or hit quite as hard as Soda's and Steve's or had depressed him like Two-bit's had. No Darry's death was more peaceful, like a rest after a long day's work or letting someone go home to where they needed to be.

Darry changed the least out of everyone. He was like a rock; unshakable, unbreakable, unchanging. He was strong when Johnny and Dallas died, when soda come home in a coffin, when Steve overdosed, and when Two-bit's years of hard living crept up on him. He was strong when Ponyboy nearly died in a car crash at eighteen. He was strong when his wife gave birth to a stillborn baby. Ponyboy never saw his brother weak.

After Ponyboy graduated from college, with a degree in Journalism and a minor in English Literature, they both decided it was Darry's turn to go to college and achieve his dream. He enrolled in the community college in Tulsa. At first he didn't know what he wanted to study. After being away from academics for so long, he felt unsuited for school. He did have experience in business from working his roofing job, but that was just to pay the bills. He never saw himself owning his own business. For the first year he took all of his required general education classes. He figured that given a year he would figure out what he wanted to study.

It was during the summer did he finally realize what he wanted to study. He was sitting at his desk going over bills and statements when Ponyboy walked in and gave an offhand comment, "You look awfully relaxed doing that." Then and there Darry decided to go into accounting. He had always liked math and that passion only grew when he had helped his youngest brother on his math homework.

He also met his wife Anna Winters at the college. They had shared a literature course and ended up debating the meaning of a centuries old poem. Darry was sure the poem was about dying while Anna was convinced it was about living. They debated it all through class and ended up getting coffee just to debate it more. Ponyboy thought they complimented each other nicely. Darry had always been a logical thinking man, very black and white. Anna was more creative and tended to see the world in shades of grey. Anna made Darry see the world from a different perspective while Darry kept Anna grounded in reality.

They married when Darry graduated and found a job at a rather prestigious bank. It was a small affair with only him and Two-bit and Anna's family. The wedding was held in the same chapel that Mr. And Mrs. Curtis got married in. Ponyboy had never seen his brother so nervous. He kept going over his vows and tugging at his tie. After reading his vows for the tenth time Ponyboy took him aside and quite bluntly asked "Do you love her?"

"Yes," came Darry's flustered response.

"Do you see the rest of your life with her?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to marry her?"

"Yes"

"Then stop worrying, it's driving me crazy." Darry cracked one of his rare grins at his younger brother. But that grin was nothing compared to the smile he gave Anna when she finally started down the aisle. It was a smile Ponyboy had never seen on his brother before. It held wonder, hope, joy, excitement, nervousness and awe. The only word Ponyboy could describe it as was gold.

They stayed in Tulsa until the second baby was born and Darry got a promotion. They eventually ended up in Denver Colorado with four kids. Two boys and two girls named Darrel Junior, Michael, Shannon, and Dawn. His family was everything to Darry. He often said "You may not have a house, or a job, but you will always have family." It almost became a family creed.

A bird chirp pulled Ponyboy from his musings. The sun had risen to reveal a 1960's Tulsa, the park exactly as he remembered it from before Bob's death. It was quiet, peaceful, and devoid of any human life. Well except for a figure that was slowly sauntering towards him. As the figure approached he could make out the white-blond of his hair and his piercing ice blue eyes.

"Hey kid," came the familiar drawl of Dallas Winston. He looked almost exactly the day he died except there were no bullet holes.

"Hey Dal, been awhile," Ponyboy answered.

"Sure has kid. Lets walk." And they did.

They walked all over Tulsa. As they walked Ponyboy felt younger with each step. His hobble vanished and breathing evened out. They stopped at The Dingo. It was odd seeing the old sign sitting there in the sunlight. Over the years The Dingo was sold, remodeled, sold again and remodeled in to a fancy upscale restaurant. Last Ponyboy heard it was being renovated back into a 1960s diner. The Dingo had held a special place in Ponyboy's heart. It was where he took his first date to.

"So how's everything been kid?" Dallas asked. Ponyboy cocked at eyebrow at him. Dallas was never one for small talk and had cared less about how anyone's life's been.

"Don't give me that look kid, it's been awhile since everything."

"Yeah I guess it has been awhile. Well I got married."

"No shit. Who? That Cherry broad?"

"Nah, she ain't Cherry. Her names Cathy and I met her in college. Had three kids, two boys and a girl." Ponyboy paused. He wasn't sure how he was going to explain his oldest's name.

"What are their names, kid?"

"Huh?"

"Their names. What are their names? Wake up stupid." Ponyboy felt a grin form in spite of himself. Dally was still the same even after all these years.

"The oldest is Dallas Darrel, we sometimes call him D.D. Next is by Patrick John, and the youngest is Lauren Maria. You'd like her, she's quite the spitfire." Dallas was quiet for a moment.

"You named a kid after me, huh?" he asked but Ponyboy could tell Dallas wasn't really talking to him.

"Course I did. You were family." It had taken Ponyboy many years to admit to anyone that he had thought of Dallas as another older brother. He had even thought about not naming his first born after the dead hood but Cathy insisted, and who was he to deny his wife anything. Ponyboy was grateful that his son turned out nothing like his namesake.

They continued walking in silence and they soon found themselves coming up to Bucks. It looked exactly the way it did when Ponyboy and Johnny had run to Dallas. It had the same dark imposing features and Ponyboy thought that if he listened closely enough he could hear a Hank Willliams song playing from inside. It had burned down a few years after Johnny and Dally died. From what Ponyboy heard it was from to much alcohol, a drunk woman and a firecracker. No one cared enough to rebuild it. Buck eventually moved from Tulsa to some farm in Montana.

"Did you regret helping us that night?" Ponyboy asked. For the longest time after Dallas's death Ponyboy wondered if Dallas regretted ever helping them. If he regretted meeting the gang and Johnny. Dallas didn't speak for the longest time. His gaze was firmly on Buck's black door. Ponyboy figured Dallas did regret it but wouldn't say anything.

"I don't regret it," he said startling Ponyboy. "I wish Johnny didn't die but I don't regret helping him. Or you for that matter." Ponyboy stared at Dallas. He never that he'd see the day Dallas Winston the toughest hood in Tulsa would ever admit to caring about anyone other than himself.

"I always knew I was gonna die violent. Just wish it was just me that died." Dallas paused. "What about you? You regret saving them kids?"

"Nope, never," Ponyboy answered remembering the day one of the kids they saved hunted him down to thank him. He had been at the park with Cathy and D.D buying some ice cream when a young man walked up to him. He couldn't have been older then twenty and he asked, "Are you Ponyboy Curtis?"

"Yeah? Can I help you?"

"I wanna thank you?"

"Thank me? For what?" Ponyboy had no idea who this kid was.

"For saving my life. Ten years ago you ran into a burning church and pulled out a bunch of kids. I was one of them." Ponyboy felt his breath catch and had to walk over to a nearby park bench to sit down. Cathy, who was watching the whole time approached.

"Pony, everything alright?" He assured his wife that he was fine and that he needed to talk to the young man. He handed the ice cream off to his wife as she went to watch their son play. He beckoned the kid over.

"I don't remember a lot about the fire only your eyes and that I bit someone." Ponyboy chuckled at that.

"Yeah, you bit me." The kid paled at the remark. For the whole afternoon they talked. About Johnny, about the fire and about the lives they now led. The kid, Benny, was training to be a firefighter. He wanted to save lives and somehow repay the hero who saved his life. Ponyboy also learned how the fire started. For the longest time he wondered how it happened but never had the nerve or chance to ask. He went all those years thinking that he and Johnny had started the fire. It turns out one of the kids had found the pack of matches they were using and before anyone knew it the church was in flames. The fact that the wood was dryer then the desert didn't help matters. That day Ponyboy found closure on something he thought he put behind him years before.

It was Dallas chuckle that pulled him from his memories.

"Same old Ponyboy, head still in the clouds."

"Not in the clouds Dal, just remembering life." They turned from Bucks, the Sun high in the sky.

The next stop was the DX. It looked exactly like it had the day Soda was drafted; from the beat up truck down to the Pepsi machine in the corner. Without further thought Ponyboy sauntered over to Pepsi machine and grabbed a Pepsi. He took a long swing of the sugary drink that drove his high school days. Looking at the DX like it had been when Soda was alive hurt. It was a wound that had never truly healed.

"Still a Pepsi fiend after all these years?"

"Yeah and don't disrespect the Pepsi," Ponyboy joked taking on a fake 1920 mafia boss accent. Dallas cracked a rare grin. Ponyboy smiled back. It was nice talking to the old hood.

"You know your dead, right kid?"

"Jesus, yeah I know I'm dead. I'm talking to you and you've been dead nearly seventy-five years now Dal."

"Just making sure. Everyone else freaked out when I met them, kid."

"Probably cause they weren't ready. How was Darry?"

"He was more sad than scared."

"Probably worrying about me. Even at ninety he was still worrying about me. I think it was a habit he could never quit. What about Soda? And Steve? Two-Bit?"

"Jesus kid slowdown. Soda was scared when he saw me but we talked and he seemed to cheer up a bit before he left. Steve was angry then calmed down… kinda. And Two-Bit was shocked but started making jokes the minute he saw me," Dallas drawled. Dallas was different, Ponyboy noted. He seemed calmer, less wild, less angry. Ponyboy finished his Pepsi and tossed it into the trash.

They walked back to the park, back to the fountain that started everything. As they approached it Ponyboy thought he heard Johnny's soft voice.

"Hey Dal?"

"Yeah kid?"

"Why are you still here? Shouldn't you've gone on with Johnny?"

"Don't know kid. Maybe I had to wait for you fools to show up 'fore I could leave." Dallas tried to chuckle but it seemed forced to Ponyboy. They continued walking and Ponyboy spied a nearby park bench and decided to sit down. Dally sat down beside him, his arm slung around Pony's shoulders. He looked to the sky and realized the sun was starting to set. Then he remembered Johnny's note and as clear as day he heard his late best friend's voice.

"Tell Dally. I don't think he knows."

"Hey Dal, wanna see a sunset?" Dallas gave him a weird look.

"Sure kid, why the hell not." They sat in silence as the sun started to sink below the horizon. The clouds turned beautiful shades of orange, pink and purple. It was the most spectacular sunset that Ponyboy had ever seen. The sun seemed brighter as it continued to set.

"I missed you Dal."

"Me too, kid." Ponyboy smiled as they both drifted into the light.

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Fatcat


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